The Lambrettas came into being in the late 70s. Doug Sanders and Jez Bird were playing in a band called Shakedown (who are still going strong today). They were looking for direction in keeping with their musical tastes, so split from Shakedown to start something new.

Both could sing and play guitar and set about writing. They were soon joined by like minded drummer Paul Wincerand bassist Mark Ellis. Doug says: “There were only a few Mods locally in Brighton and Hastings and we had no idea there would be a revival on the scale that it grew into. That’s when we decided to call the band The Lambrettas to make it as obvious as possible, so that people would know what we were about.” They suffered some criticism later on for their name but these were early days. They always maintained (and still do), that a band should be judged on their music first and foremost.

They soon realised there were other bands around like their neighbours The Teenbeats from Hastings, who are also still around and played with the Lambrettas at the 100 Club in London in 2009, as they did in 1979 at London’s Dublin Castle.

Their first gig was on Hastings Pier with 4 other bands, and promoter Peter Haines offered them management. After a few months of gigs they were signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records and released their first single Go Steady. This got them some airplay and soon they were gigging more regularly. The mod revival had now grown, and clothes that they used to fight for in the charity shops were now on sale in the High Street. Their second single was Poison Ivy, the song they are most remembered for, as it spent a long time in the charts. Soon after, their album Beat Boys in the Jet Age was released and also spent several months in the charts.